Motorist hits & damages building in South City
In the very early hours on Tuesday a week ago a motorist traveling southbound on Kingshighway Blvd missed the bend in the road at Devonshire Ave. The car hit the fence, the corner post for the building and then a cast iron post next to the window. The corner post was scuffed but not moved. Lily’s was closed for the day as they cleaned up the mess.
Accidents such as this tell me our roads are designed to travel at too high of speed.
– Steve Patterson
It's probably more likely that the explanation for this accident is not poor road design, but that the driver either had a medical event, was careless, or is an idiot.
I travle through there at a higher rate of speed than the roads are designed for and i have never hit anything.
A note about this, Alderman Gregali had just been there the day before talking with city streets about adding permanent posts on that corner and narrowing the Kingshighway sidewalk to pull parking off the street a bit.
As you probably know Steve, that corner has some problems with the curve that some people just don't notice when they are distracted. This has happened here more than just this once. I believe the owner's comments where “at least it was the small window this time.”
Accidents such as this tell me that our roads are NOT designed to travel at higher speeds. If they were, the curve here would be much more gradual, among many other detail changes. So, my vote for a cause is likely a combination of excessive alcohol and excessive speed. And the obvious solution is more and better enforcement of existing traffic laws in the city. Building a barrier and narrowing the street would just change the point of impact . . .
no, not Lily's!!! i LOVE Lily's… hopefully everyone is alright and the damage is covered?
I believe it IS poor road design. Poor design for todays drivers that is. That sudden bend in Kingshighway is like that because of the old Southampton street car line that ran on Kingshighway. Streetcars could make a sudden curve like that and not run into anything. I don't know when the car line was built, probably after the turn of the century but well before 1920. At the time there were probably not more than a couple of Model T Fords running around so auto traffic was not a problem. The shops and stores were built along the streetcar line however it was routed. Fast forward 100 years and you got trouble. Too many people running around with cars that go much faster than they really need to. I try to drive the posted 30 mph speed limit on Chippewa and everyone passes me like I am sitting still. As far as the cell phone thing, I don't even wanna get started on that one.
So, what is your solution? Fix the road or fix the drivers?
Not sure there is a solution. But if there is one it has to be fix the drivers in this case. Most traffic on Kingshighway is always going over the speed limit.
Drunk. 100% guaranteed.
Actually, drunk AND texting per the owner's daughter I talked to on Saturday….ouch. Right smack into the building!